Chapter 3 No.3

Thomas Lincoln was now well fixed to begin life over again, and as Abraham was twenty-one, he wished to do for himself and started out. He never afterwards was a member of his father's household. Thomas Lincoln lived here a number of years; but afterwards moved to Coles county, where he lived on a farm near the village of Farmington, that Abraham bought for him. He died January 17th, 1851. Abraham at the time could not be present on account of sickness in his own family, so he wrote as follows: "I sincerely hope that father may recover his health.

Tell him to remember to call upon the great God and all-wise Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of the sparrow, He numbers the hairs of our heads, and will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in Him. Say to him that if we could meet now it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful than pleasant; but that if it be His will for him to go now, he will soon have the joyous meeting of the loved ones gone before, where the rest of us with the help of God will hope ere long to join them." Talking to a friend after the death of his father about his mother, he said "that whatever might be said of his parents, however unpromising the surroundings of his mother may have been, she was highly intellectual by nature and had a strong memory and acute judgment." She had no doubt risen above her surroundings, and had she lived, the stimulus of her nature would have accelerated the son's success.

When Abraham started out for himself, he had almost nothing, not even a nice suit of clothes, and the very first work he did was to split four hundred rails for enough money to buy him a pair of brown jeans pants. He had no trade or influence; but he was strong and good natured. He could out-lift and out-wrestle and out-work any man he came across. His friends used to boast of his strength a great deal. One time when he was president, a man came to him, who was shy on account of being before the president. After his errand was done, Mr. Lincoln asked him to measure with him, and the man proved to be even taller, and went away seeming to think there was something wrong in his being taller than the president of the United States. While his strength made him popular with the hard working men, his good nature, wit, stories, and ability to make a good speech made him popular with everybody! The people liked to have him around, so he could always get work in the various kinds of labor necessary on the farm about there. He remained in Macon county a year, and made for one man alone, three thousand rails. He continued at this time to read all the books he could get, and also to make stump speeches, often doing it alone in the woods. A man came along making political speeches. John Banks told Abraham that he could do better. Abraham tried it, and the man after hearing his speech took him aside and asked him how he learned so much and how he could do so well. Abraham told him that he read a great deal and the man encouraged him to continue.

A Mr. Benton Offut wanted to send some produce to New Orleans. Abraham had had some experience on a trip you will remember before, and so Mr. Offut hired him at the rate of fifty cents a day to take a flat boat of goods to New Orleans and sell them. When they were building this boat at Sangamon, a town that is now gone, Lincoln used to tell stories particularly in the evening when work was done. They would sit along a log, and when they came to a funny part, they would laugh so hard that the men would roll off the log. It is said they did this so often that it polished the log. They called this "Abraham's log," and many years afterward, even when Mr. Lincoln was noted, this log was pointed out to strangers as "Abraham's log."

When they started to New Orleans their boat got stuck on a dam in the Sangamon River at New Salem, but Mr. Lincoln thought out a good plan for getting it off and they finally reached New Orleans in May 1831. They remained there a month. It was a large city and was very interesting to Abraham. It was the great business center of the South, and as negro slavery was a very prominent feature of the South, they saw it in all its wickedness. At New Orleans one day, John Hanks and Abraham were walking along the street and came to a slave market. They saw a beautiful slave girl put up for sale. They pinched her and trotted her up and down the street just as you would a horse to show its fine parts. This disgusted Abraham so much that he turned to Hanks and said, "John, if I ever get a chance to hit that thing (slavery) I will hit it hard." Strange was it not that he should be the man that would hit it so hard that it died.

When he returned from New Orleans, Mr. Offut hired him to take charge of a little store at New Salem, which he started. This town was a very little village twenty miles north-west of Springfield. The place where it was located is now simply a pasture for cattle and sheep, the town having entirely passed away; but it will always be noted in history as the place where Abraham Lincoln, the great man lived and conducted a store. Thus you see that men are so much more important than places, and it is their deeds that make history. In after years when Mr. Douglas was debating with Mr. Lincoln he joked him about this store keeping, and said that he sold liquor over the New Salem bar. When it came Mr. Lincoln's turn to reply, he was just as witty in his reply and said that if he did sell liquor over the New Salem bar as his friend had said, he could assure his audience that the best patron he had was Stephen A. Douglas. This was simply a joke between these two debaters; but it illustrates how quick Mr. Lincoln's wit was.

We all no doubt think ourselves honest; but I wonder if we are as strictly honest as Mr. Lincoln was. After measuring out some tea for a lady one evening in the store, he gave it to her. After attending to other work in the store, he happened to pass by the scales and noticed he had made a mistake and given her too little. He measured out the difference, wrapped it up, and although the woman lived a long distance away, he hastened off to bring her the difference. Perhaps the most of us might have thought that we would wait until she came in again and give it to her and perhaps then forget all about it; but that was not Mr. Lincoln's way. One evening after discovering that he had taken six and a fourth cents too much from a customer, he walked three miles and returned the money at once. He also was postmaster, but the postoffice was so small and did such a little business that the government closed it up. They neglected, however, to get the balance due them of about sixteen dollars. Many years afterwards when Mr. Lincoln was living in Springfield, the agent for the government came to his office for the money. In the meantime Mr. Lincoln had been through some very great poverty, and often needed just a little money very much. I presume many people would have borrowed that sixteen dollars for the time and returned it when the agent came for it. A friend of Mr. Lincoln's called him to one side when the agent came for the money, and said he knew he was poor, and probably did not have that amount with him, and he would loan it to him; but Mr. Lincoln said he did not need it, and asking the agent to wait awhile, he went over to his room and got an old sock out of his trunk and bringing this back to the office, untied it and dumped on the table the exact money he had received as the postmaster many years before. Here is a good lesson for us in strict and exact honesty. This instance illustrates Mr. Lincoln's very strict honesty, and as he became known about New Salem, and this characteristic was seen by the people, he was nicknamed "Honest Abe," and this name for honesty went with him ever afterward, and when he would speak to the jury in a law suit, and tell them the facts, they would always believe him because he was known as "Honest Abe," and would not tell a lie. So you see that it was a very great advantage to him in after years to have been so strictly honest. It proves the old saying true, that "Honesty is the best policy."

Mr. Offut, Abraham's employer was very proud of his strength and was wont to boast of it very often. There was a settlement near New Salem called Clary's Grove. A large number of young men who lived in that vicinity ran together and were known as the Clary's Grove boys. They were large and strong young men, and very much given to fun and sport. They were rude and rough and would wrestle, fight and do a great many tricks. Abraham, being a stranger bragged on by his employer they thought it was necessary to "take the starch out of him," so they put up their best man, Jack Armstrong to wrestle against Abraham. Jack Armstrong was a square built fellow and strong as an ox. Abraham did not like this sort of thing, but it was hard to avoid it. So they met on a certain day for the wrestling match. The crowd came to witness the contest. For a long time they struggled without either gaining a victory, and both keeping on their feet. Finally Armstrong made a foul and this made Abraham furious, so he caught Jack by the throat, held him out at arm's length and shook him as though he was only a child. Armstrong's friends rushed to his aid, but Abraham backed up to the building and stood ready. His friends came to his support, and when all knew about Armstrong's trick and also recognized Abraham's wonderful strength, they became admirers of him, and ever after the Clary's Grove boys were staunch friends of Mr. Lincoln.

He used the influence thus acquired to teach them that the mind is the measure of the man, and not physical strength and by his example taught them that to cultivate the mind by reading and study was the more important thing and he did them a great deal of good.

* * *